Sept. 6, 2002

Contact: Ranjit Arab, University Relations, (785) 864-8855.

KU names winners of $10,000 Higuchi awards for research excellence

LAWRENCE -- The University of Kansas has announced the four recipients of the 2002 Higuchi/Endowment Research Achievement Awards.

Each winner will receive a $10,000 award to further his or her research efforts. The awards will be presented Oct. 2 in the Bruckmiller Room of KU's Adams Alumni Center.

The professors chosen to receive this year's awards are:

 • C.R. Snyder, M. Erik Wright distinguished professor of clinical psychology at KU, will receive the Balfour Jeffrey Award for research achievement in humanities and social sciences.
 • Talat Rahman, professor of physics at Kansas State University, will receive the Olin Petefish Award for research achievement in the basic sciences.
 • Kristin Bowman-James, professor of chemistry at KU, will receive the Dolph Simons Award for research achievement in the biomedical sciences.
 • Donald Stull, professor of anthropology at KU, will receive the Irvin Youngberg Award for research achievement in the applied sciences.

The awards were established in 1981 by Takeru Higuchi, KU distinguished professor of chemistry and pharmacy and chair of pharmaceutical chemistry, and his wife, Aya. Higuchi created the award with the stipulation that faculty members at all Kansas regents institutions be eligible. The annual awards are named for people who have worked through the KU Endowment Association to further KU's overall research program.

Recipients may use their awards for research materials, summer salaries, fellowship matching funds, research assistance or other support.

C.R. Snyder
Snyder received his Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Vanderbilt University in 1971. In 1972, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of California-San Francisco Medical Center. On the faculty at KU since 1972, he was director of the clinical psychology program from 1975 to 2002, and he is the M. Erik Wright distinguished professor of clinical psychology. Snyder has served as editor of the Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, along with two book series on social/clinical psychology and human motivation. He has been on the editorial boards of five journals. He has written 21 books, 72 chapters and 135 journal articles. He also has received seven university teaching honors, including the H.O.P.E., Byrd, Kemper and Shutz awards, plus one state and one national award. Most recently, Snyder has championed the study of hope, which has become a linchpin in the formation of the emerging positive-psychology movement.

Talat Rahman
Rahman earned her doctorate in physics from the University of Rochester in 1977. She has been honored with an Alexander von Humboldt fellowship and a forschungspreiz (research prize) in Germany; a CNR-Italy research fellowship; and a UNDP fellowship in Pakistan. She is a fellow in the American Physical Society and has won the Stamey Teaching Award and the Commerce Bank Distinguished Graduate Faculty Award at Kansas State University. Her articles have appeared in 120 publications and she has given numerous invited papers at conferences. Since 1983, she has been a resident scholar at 10 international institutions. Rahman plays a key role in the international advancement of science, organizing an annual international summer College in Physics in Pakistan. At the national level, she is serving as a member of the Executive Committee of the Division of Materials Physics, American Physical Society. Rahman has developed a highly visible research program in the theoretical modeling of solid surfaces and nanostructures. She has been a guiding force both in the Center for Scientific Supercomputing and in the Developing Scholars program, which seeks to enhance the retention and graduation rates of undergraduate students from historically underprivileged groups. On the faculty at Kansas State University since 1983, she is a university distinguished professor in physics.

Kristin Bowman-James
Bowman-James earned her doctorate in chemistry from Temple University in 1974 and was a postdoctoral scholar at Ohio State University. While serving as a visiting professor at the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg, France, she worked with Nobel laureate Jean-Marie Lehn. Bowman-James also has been a visiting professor at the California Institute of Technology. She has written one book, four chapters and 70 refereed journal articles and has given 80 invited lectures. Bowman-James serves on the editorial advisory boards of two journals: Inorganic Chemistry and Supramolecular Chemistry. She has received an NSF Career Advancement Award, the Iota Sigma Pi Award for Professional Excellence and the Midwest Regional Award for promoting diversity by the Women Chemists Committee of the American Chemical Society. Additionally, she is a member of the KU Women's Hall of Fame. Bowman-James is a pioneer in the field of anion coordination chemistry. She has delineated principles of molecular recognition that have wide applicability to areas as diverse as catalysis and analytical chemistry. She has worked extensively to encourage women to enter scientific fields. Through strategic hires of well-qualified women, Bowman-James increased the proportion of women in KU's chemistry department to 25 percent during her tenure as department chair. This is one of the highest proportions of women chemistry faculty at any major research university. Bowman-James has been a faculty member at KU since 1975.

Donald Stull
Stull received his Ph.D. in anthropology from the University of Colorado-Boulder in 1973. He was a National Institute of Mental Health postdoctoral fellow at the University of California-Berkeley in 1974-75, where he also earned a master's degree in public health. Stull received the Omer C. Stewart Memorial Award for exemplary achievement in applied anthropology in 1995 and KU's Louise Byrd Graduate Educator Award in 1998. He is the editor of Human Organization, the leading international journal in applied social science, and has served as co-editor of Culture and Agriculture. He is the author or editor of 12 books, monographs and special issues, and 42 articles and chapters. Additionally, he has given 34 invited lectures. He is a fellow in the American Anthropological Association, a sustaining fellow in the Society for Applied Anthropology and a charter member of the High Plains Society for Applied Anthropology. Stull was among those who pioneered the approach known as collaborative, or participatory, research in applied anthropology. Its hallmark is close cooperation between professional researchers and community leaders and activists to identify social problems, select techniques for investigating them, interpret results and recommend action. An important focus of Stull's research has been the impact of the meat and poultry industry on workers and rural communities, such as Garden City, and the many societal and economic changes that accompany rapid growth, population mobility, and increasing ethnic and linguistic diversity. In 2001, Stull was made an honorary citizen of and given the key to Garden City in recognition of the contribution of his research to that community. Stull is beginning his 28th year on the KU faculty.